That’s 20 years of support from Santa Barbara and beyond doing what we love every day. We are a premier outfitter on the central coast of California, we operate sea cave kayaking tours in Channel Islands National Park, coastal kayaking tours, surf + SUP, wine tours, teambuilding, outdoor education and more. We started in 1998 and want to celebrate by giving back this year, with 20 Days of Giving Back #Giving20SB

We finished all 20 of our days of giving back! These were all completed in a year, but of course we are looking forward to continue giving back as much as we can. We loved this experience because we feel it brought us closer to the community, meet incredible people and feel like we made a positive difference. If you have any ideas on organizations in need, leave them in the comments!

First, enjoy a blast from the past with some of these photos over the past 20 years:

Below are days of giving back we completed, all in the year 2018!

1. Beach clean-up with the Surfrider Foundation

We kicked off 20 Days of Giving Back by organizing a beach clean up with our staff, along with the Surfrider Foundation. That blue ocean and beautiful sandy beach deserves our love!

2. Supporting local families

After the heart-wrenching devastation that Montecito and surrounding communities endured with the debris flow, we wanted to donate to local families who had lost most everything, particularly their gear that helps them get outside. An REI gift card seemed like the ticket!

3. Board game donations to Unity Shoppe

At Santa Barbara Adventure company, we LOVE board games, we have a weekly game night and it made us so bummed to think some people don’t even have board games to play with. We teamed up with Unity Shoppe in downtown Santa Barbara and hosted a board game drive, people were able to drop off gently-used board games.

4. Collecting Shoes to Donate to Soles4Souls

We worked with Soles4Souls and came up with over 100 pairs of shoes to donate!

5. First Responder Day

We invited Search and Rescue members out to Santa Cruz Island with Island Packers as ferry service and Channel Islands Provisioners providing lunch. It was incredible to be able to host these brave men and women and their families in a day of sea cave kayaking!

6. Supporting the Koala Exhibit at the Santa Barbara Zoo

We are all about conservation and education, so when we found out the Santa Barbara Zoo was getting a new koala exhibit, we were excited to help out. We made a donation to support the exhibit and even visited the koalas on their grand opening! The zoo even has a couple Channel Islands foxes, which of course we are partial to working with the endemic species at the Channel Islands National Park.

7. Volunteering with the Santa Barbara County Food Bank

The group sales and marketing managers took an afternoon to decompress and visited our friends at the Santa Barbara County Food Bank. There, they helped sort food to be distributed to groups and individuals in need. The Santa Barbara County food bank is always in need of volunteers and has really fun opportunities to get to meet new people and make a positive difference in the community.

8. CycleMAYnia! Our team biked almost 1,000 miles during May

Our team worked to reduce emissions and get exercise and biked to work as much as we could during the month of May. Together we obtained almost 1,000 miles and supported local organization Traffic Solutions.

9. Donated to Channel Islands Restoration

Channel Islands Restoration ensures the islands remain pristine and productive. Any donation to them goes a long way in protecting the place we love most!

10. Fourth of July Beachfront Cleanup 

Independence Day is always fun, but it does end up with a lot of litter if people don’t take the time to properly dispose of their party materials. On the way to work some staff members stopped to clean up a section of waterfront and was impressed with the results! The city employees were working long after we were so give them a high five when you see them!

11. Holiday Fire Clean-Up Volunteering

The Holiday Fire in Goleta came suddenly and many people their home and everything in it. The Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade is a local organization that helps sift through debris and find things of importance or values for families to reconnect with. Some of our staff volunteered with the Bucket Brigade and were humbled by the opportunity.

12. Native Planting with Channel Islands Restoration

Channel Islands Restoration gathers volunteers to assist with native plants in the Channel Islands and beyond. Some of our staff actually went out to San Nicolas island (a remote island part of the Channel Islands) to help restore native plant habitat. Other staff went to Camarillo to prepare plants for the journey.

13. Food Drive with Island Packers and Food Bank of Santa Barbara County

We teamed together with our friends at Island Packers (the ferry company who services Channel Islands National Park) and organized a food drive with barrels guests and employees alike could donate to.

14. Recycling Energy Bar Wrappers with TerraCycle

We eat a lot of energy bars in our line of work (and so do our guests!) Terracycle is a program that makes it easy to recycle these wrappers so they stay out of the landfill. We ship a box of them off to Terracycle as soon as it’s full – easy as that!

15. Serving Food at Picnic in the Park!

Picnic in the Park is an incredible program put on by the Santa Barbara County Food Bank. Kids and their families can come to the determined location (usually a park or library) and are offered a free healthy lunch, fun books and games! Some of our guides volunteered and loved getting to meet these fun, fabulous kids!

16. A Service Day with Teva 

We took the Teva team out in our backyard for a fun day of trail restoration and maintenance! We had perfect conditions to get our hands dirty and give back to our trails, which are a huge part of what makes Santa Barbara so special. It was a fun day of service to the local trails we love.

17. Donated to Marathoners Raising Money to Help the Water Crisis

Our friend Noelle at Visit Santa Barbara and her husband are joining together to run a marathon to fight the global water crisis. We donated to this year’s cause…$50 = clean water for 1 child for life.

18. Made a Donation to the HomeForGood Foundation

The Home for Good Foundation in Santa Barbara County is designed to house the most vulnerable individuals and families experiencing homelessness in Santa Barbara County. One main avenue of housing these people is through reunification.

19. Created a Social Media Contest with Proceeds Going to Direct Relief, to help California fire victims

The Camp Fire in Paradise, California combined with the Hill and Woolsey Fires in Malibu area made for some of the most devastating fires in California’s history. Santa Barbara Adventure Company gave $1.00 for each person to comment on a specific Instagram post, and the response was outstanding! Direct Relief improves the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies.

20. Social Media Contest Supporting Channel Islands Park Foundation

The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation is the official non-profit partner of the National Marine Sanctuary System. Their mission is to protect species, conserve ecosystems, and preserve America’s maritime heritage.

The post 20 Days of Giving Back: Santa Barbara Adventure Company’s #Giving20SB appeared first on Santa Barbara Adventure Co..

The weekend felt like a blur as most of our employees were in mandatory or voluntary evacuation zones, leaving town to stay with family or friends all over the state. Yesterday and today, first responders seem to have started to get ahead of the flames and we are hopeful things will continue to improve. Below is a photo we were sent from a friend at the Ventura harbor on Sunday of the smoke plume in Carpinteria – this was extremely disturbing to receive as many of our coworkers and friends live in the area.

The smoke is still bad in Santa Barbara, conditions have improved immensely, however, in Ventura. Here is a link to the most up-to-date evacuation zones and fire perimeter: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1ASoCEnK1yHaI2Of55E92EXF69JdFdIp-&ll=34.3918682033433%2C-119.57075974121096&z=11 

Our office is open today, with three people in it. We are hoping to run an island trip on Thursday, as the air quality has improved immensely in Ventura and on the Channel Islands.

So many businesses and people are organizing incredible donations for the victims and first responders of the Thomas Fire. Here is a link to multiple GoFundMe pages to help specific people: https://www.gofundme.com/cause/southern-ca-fire-relief

We also saw signs cheering on the firefighters and the town of Carpinteria is planning on giving them a special send-off when this is all over. Although we are unsure of the future, we have hopes that this will end soon and our communities will continue to support each other! Thank you to everyone helping, continued thoughts and prayers for families affected.

——–

A few of our guides and staff were evacuated from their homes in Carpinteria and Summerland last night, luckily the latest news says that no homes burned overnight and we are so thankful. We are currently taking outdoor gear donations at our 32 E Haley Street Location in downtown Santa Barbara – this can be anything big or small. Some people have lost absolutely everything and we want to help.

Visit Ventura came out with some good information that can be found here and Nate put together a consolidated list of resources with updates, maps, air quality info and more (below). As far as our trips, we have canceled today and tomorrow’s tours (Friday and Saturday) due to air quality. Right now, we still plan to run our Sunday Channel Islands tours, but will reassess as needed tomorrow. Continued thoughts and prayers for everyone affected and a huge thank you to everyone working to put these fires out!

Official Updates:

• SB County Updates
• Ventura Fire Dept. Updates
• Cal Fire Updates

Live Interactive Maps: (some updated hourly)

• Smoke 1
• Smoke 2
• NASA Satellite Imagery
• Fire 1
• Fire 2

Air Quality:

• Ventura
• Santa Barbara
• SoCal

Contribute to Relief Efforts:

• United Way
• Red Cross
• Salvation Army
• Yesterday Ed Hat stated that N95 Masks are being distributed at:
• Costco in the Camino Real Marketplace (7095 Market Pl Drive, Goleta),10am
• Franklin Community Center (1136 East Montecito Street, Santa Barbara), 10am
• Albertson’s in Carpinteria (1018 Casitas Pass Road, Carpinteria),10 am
• Montecito (Lower Village, 1400 block of E. Valley Road),1pm

Feel free to send any other info you find to letsgo@sbadventureco.com

Thank you!

———

We woke up this morning to layers of ash on our cars and fires spreading further north. If you haven’t already, be sure to sign up for Nixle Alerts: you will receive emergency alerts from local agencies, it is a great way to be kept in the loop and eliminate any confusion. Text your zip code to 888-777 to sign up.

Here are two local families that could use some extra help as well. To see more ways to help, scroll further down to yesterday’s information.

https://www.gofundme.com/zell-family-thomas-fire

Friends of Santa Barbara Adventure Company, this couple just lost their new home in Ventura to the fire and could use your help this holiday season.

https://www.gofundme.com/causehannafund

The young father of this family created a research station on Santa Rosa Island. He recently lost his battle with cancer a few months ago and left behind a wife and two young girls. Their house they built together just burned to the ground in Ventura as well.

Update on our trips: Coastal and island trips are canceled today. We are still operating wine country tours. We are evaluating weekend trips tomorrow (Friday) morning.

Again, if you know of an organization or family in need of help, email us at letsgo@sbadventureco.com. Stay safe!

—

As the fire persists, everyone is coming together to find more ways to help the Ventura fire victims. I have been scrolling through news and social media sites to find out more ways to help – we just reached out to a lady named Dianna who is taking donations at her house and has over 100 housing locations available. If you know of someone that needs housing, there are locations available from Oak Park to Ventura – text 805.217.2333 and she will set them up with what they need. She is also taking donations to her address in Camarillo at 2843 McCulloch Street. These can be anything from non-perishable food items, blankets and clothing to toiletries and pet food.

Visit ReadyVenturaCounty.org for information on evacuation plans and more ways to help. Text “UWVC” to 41444 and 100% of the donations will go to those affected by the fires.

For animals affected by the fire, the following organizations are still accepting pets:

1. Humane Society of Ventura County in Ojai 805.64.6505

2. Santa Barbara Fairground 805.687.0766

3. Camp Canine in Santa Barbara 805.962.4790

Continued thoughts for all of the victims! Again, if you know of an organization or family in need of help, email us at letsgo@sbadventureco.com.

—–

This morning I woke up to smoky, red skies and frightening stories of friends evacuating with pets in the night. Our office is about 25 miles north of Ventura, so I knew our warehouse was safe – but we have a special connection to this area and coastline. Many of our staff members live in Ventura, several of our vendors are in Ventura and our guides shuttle in and out of their harbor daily. After seeing the photos and checking on a few friends and relatives, my next thoughts were — what can I do to help? During the Santa Rosa fires, I remember thinking “If I was closer, I could help more” … now I am closer.

When I searched the internet for ways to help; I found nothing. So I reached out to the Ventura Red Cross and Morris Franklin, in the Red Cross Ventura office, sent me some options on different ways to help today. I’m told more requests will come in over the next few days as well. Check back and I will update this list as I get more information. If you know of an organization or family in need of help, email us at letsgo@sbadventureco.com.

This morning, Thomas Fire has spread to approximately 45,500 acres, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee the area. 27,000 of our Ventura neighbors have been evacuated, many still unsure of the status of their homes. At least 150 structures have been destroyed, but that number is expected to grow as the fire persists.

Here are a few ways to help people involved in the Thomas Fire:

1. Make an online donation to your local Red Cross: www.redcross.org

From the menu at the top of the page, select Donate
For the “I Want To Support” choice, choose “Your Local Red Cross”

2. Mail a donation to any of the following addresses:

PACIFIC COAST CHAPTER
2707 State Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93105

PACIFIC COAST CHAPTER
225 Prado Road
San Luis Obispo, 93401

VENTURA COUNTY CHAPTER
836 Calle Plano
Camarillo, CA 93012

3. Become a Red Cross Volunteer

Visit redcross.org/volunteer to begin the application process
If you or someone you know is seeking shelter, the American Red Cross currently has these available locations:
Ventura Country Fairgrounds, 10 W Habror Boulevard, Ventura, CA 93001
Nordorff High School, 1401 Maricopa Hwy, Ojai, CA 93023
Oxnard College, 4000 S Rose Ave., Oxnard, CA 93033

As for us, we are looking at the weather with Island Packers and evaluating our trips day-to-day. The power is on and off at the office and our staff is reaching out to guides to ensure their safety. An employee from Island Packers is even helping one of our guides, Matt, with evacuating by letting him borrow a trailer for his horses! Here is a photo Fiona took on her way to our Santa Barbara office this morning of the sky looking towards Ventura:

Photo by Fiona Reidy “This morning was a dramatic display, both beautiful and eery. Really thinking about friends and all of those affected just a little bit south of us today.”

Thank you to all the first responders. We will be posting any updates or helpful information we receive here throughout the week. *Updated 12/2/17 9am

The post How to Help Ventura Thomas Fire Victims appeared first on Santa Barbara Adventure Co..